Rock crushers, scarifiers and like machines are essential for building, maintaining and reconditioning roads but have various inherent drawbacks including rapid arbor wear, rapid tooling implement wear, limited tooling implement mounting patterns and they are typically configured to either crush and break fracturable material such as rock or concrete, or they are alternatively configured to grind and mill softer abrasive materials such as asphalt.
Rock crushers and milling/scarifying machines typically carry a large rotating arbor that has a plurality of tooling implements thereon. The arbor is interconnected with a power source that provides rotational motion to the arbor. The tooling implements carried on the arbor are affixed thereto, generally permanently such as by welding, or machining directly into an outer circumferential surface of the arbor. As the arbor rotates, the tooling implements impact the material being worked upon causing the breaking/fracturing or milling/scarifying.
Arbors are typically massive structures having a fixed geometry that limits how the machine carrying the arbor may be used, what type of material it may be used upon and the characteristics of the finished product. For instance, an arbor configured to fracture rock and other hard materials typically cannot be used to effectively grind asphalt because of the dramatically different characteristics of rock and asphalt. Although rock and concrete are hard and are difficult to fracture, these materials are not overly abrasive. On the other hand, materials such as asphalt and sandstone are not overly hard or difficult to fracture, but these materials are hugely abrasive leading to tremendous wear and heat buildup on the arbor and tooling implements. Different tooling implements and different configurations of tooling implements are necessary for the proper grinding, milling and fracturing of each material. Arbors are complex structures and because they are subject to such enormous amounts of wear and tear any improvement that increases longevity and/or flexibility and/or adaptability is desirable.
What is needed is an apparatus that allows a variety of tooling implements to be releasably fastened onto an arbor to allow differing uses of the arbor and also to allow individual tooling implement replacement. The apparatus must be attachable to a variety of arbors and be able to carry tooling implements for fracturing, breaking, milling, planing, crushing, pulverizing as well as scarifying. Further, because the tooling implements carried upon the arbor suffer from such tremendous wear and tear, the apparatus must make replacement of the tooling implements easy with minimal amounts of down time and minimal amounts of maintenance. The apparatus should make the machine adaptable to particular site needs.
Because rock crushing, grinding, scarifying and milling operations exert so much wear and tear and destructive forces on equipment and apparatus, fastening methods that are normally considered to be structural or permanent, such as welding, are not necessarily structural or permanent in this industry. It is known and recognized in rock crushing, grinding, scarifying and milling operations that components welded to a rotating arbor are replaceable and are regularly replaced by cutting the component off and re-welding replacement component in the removed component's location. For purposes of this patent disclosure, a component welded to an arbor is replaceable.
Our replaceable arbor tool holder for replaceable impact tools overcomes various of the aforementioned drawbacks and resolves various of the aforementioned needs by providing a replaceable arbor tool holder for impact tools that allows tool replacement and machine reconfiguration for application to varying materials.
Our invention has an arcuate base structurally carrying an impact tool holder on an outer surface. The tool holder is configured to carry a replaceable impact tool such as a carbide tipped impact tool. The base is releasably connected to an arbor by plural bolts extending through the base and engaging with the arbor thereunder.
Our invention does not reside in any one of the identified features individually but rather in the synergistic combination of all of its structures, which give rise to the functions necessarily flowing therefrom as hereinafter specified and claimed.
Some or all of the problems explained above, and other problems, may be helped or solved by the invention shown and described herein. Our invention may also be used to address other problems not set out herein or which become apparent at a later time. The future may also bring to light unknown benefits which may be in the future appreciated from the novel invention shown and described herein.